‘An extravagantly illuminated beast’: the best artificial Christmas trees in the UK – tested
In the 70s and 80s Essex of my youth, no one had a real Christmas tree unless they lived in the country, or perhaps Loughton. Our family’s skinny artificial tree is now 55 years old and comes out every year at my sister’s. It’s shed a few plastic “needles” down the years, but it’s still standing proud – which is more than you can say for a real Christmas tree bought in 1971, or even 2025.
Therein lies the surprising environmental efficiency of artificial Christmas trees. The Carbon Trust says using a fake tree over seven to 20 years (depending on its weight and materials) can create fewer emissions than buying a new, commercially grown tree every year. The key is to buy an artificial tree you’ll love enough to roll out for decades.
To help you choose your forever tree, I rounded up a veritable forest of the best fake Christmas trees, including pre-lit, frosted and mini models. Along with my husband, Alan, I compared them on factors including appearance, durability and whether they could be assembled without causing a breakdown in domestic relations. I also attempted a few on my own to see how easy they were to put up without help.
Here I reveal which trees made Christmas come early, and which ones drove us straight to the mini liqueurs.
At a glance
Best pre-lit Christmas tree and best overall
£160 at B&Q
B&Q Full Fraser fir with warm white LEDsBest budget Christmas tree
£49.99 at Robert Dyas
Robert Dyas Alaskan pine with LEDsBest unlit Christmas tree
£120 at Argos
Habitat Mixed-tip upsweptBest realistic Christmas tree
£119.99 at Christmas Tree World
Christmas Tree World Matterhorn pineBest small Christmas tree
£39 at Atkin and Thyme
Atkin and Thyme Nordmann fir pre-lit potted treeBest tabletop Christmas tree
£26.99 at Homescapes
Homescapes Artificial pinecone & berry in burlap
Why you should trust me
I’ve spent three decades reviewing products, from smartphones to mattresses, so I’m professionally sceptical of manufacturers’ claims to magically improve our lives by buying their stuff. I also have a solid background in hay fever and cats, both of which are triggered by having a real tree in the house, so I’m on a mission to find the best, greenest and safest alternative.
How I tested
Artificial Christmas trees vary in many factors other than height. Foliage style, material, width, number of tips and method of assembly are important considerations when buying, but brands don’t always reveal these specs. My testing of 23 trees, then, involved a lot more measuring and tip counting than anticipated.
To keep things simple, I requested the 6ft model of every full-size tree on my shortlist, all sourced from manufacturers and retailers. Taller trees tend to be correspondingly wider, and there was no way I’d fit a forest of 8ft trees in my house (or indeed reach them). I awarded kudos for the range of sizes available, though.
While height in feet is the one specification you’re guaranteed to get when buying a tree, I learned not to take it too literally. My “6ft” trees varied in height from 180cm (actually 5ft 11in) to 183cm (just over 6ft).
My lawfully wedded testing partner, Alan, helped me put up most of the trees one weekend. I also assembled a few on my own, including the largest and heaviest, to see whether they’d be too much trouble for someone living alone.
We timed how long it took to unbox each one, assemble it and arrange its foliage. We looked for clearly marked sections that slotted easily but securely together, sturdy stands, strong, flexible branches that were easy to separate and position, and clear instructions.
After measuring each tree, counting its tips and pausing for a much-needed mince pie, we gave them all a good shake. Fake plastic trees shed needles, too. Not nearly as many as a real tree, but some – including our own budget Lidl tree – are litterbugs, screeding the floor with tiny plastic strips. Minimal shedding is a good sign of a tree’s build quality and durability.
Next, we loaded each full-size tree with decorations to see if the branches drooped or baubles slid off. The smaller trees were subjected to less festive baggage, but we crowned each one with a 150g homemade tree-topper to see how well its vertical top branch remained standing, if at all.
Pre-lit trees save time when assembling, provided they have a good number of lights arranged evenly and attractively. There’s no point in spending more on a pre-lit tree (often £20 extra for a full-size model) if you have to then add even more lights. With these models, we also looked for well-concealed wiring, easy-to-connect sections and a long mains cable.
Finally, we took each tree apart again and tried to squeeze them back into their boxes, with mixed success. They were collected by Southampton hardship charity Scratch, which distributed them to families in need.
The best artificial Christmas trees you can buy in 2026
Best pre-lit Christmas tree and best overall:
B&Q full Fraser fir with warm white LEDs
B&Q
Full Fraser fir with warm white LEDs
£160
What we love
Well-lit, easy to assemble and divine to look at
What we don’t love
Top branch won’t hold a heavy ornament
I hesitated to demote Habitat’s beautiful mixed-tip tree from its 2025 position as our best overall Christmas tree, but B&Q’s pre-lit Fraser fir just sneaks in to steal the top spot for 2026. It’s the dreamiest-looking Christmas tree I’ve ever welcomed into my home, and an excellent price for a pre-lit tree of this quality.
Why we love it
B&Q’s cosy, handsome tree took us less than 10 minutes to get up and lit – no wrestling with fairy lights required. I might have expected such easy assembly from B&Q, but I confess I hadn’t expected such aesthetic flair. The foliage, silhouette and pre-attached lights are simply gorgeous: realistic, stylish and festive enough to raise an “ooh” when you plug it in.
This tree was one of the easiest in my test to assemble. Most branches are on hinges, so they fall effortlessly into place when you hold each of the three sections upright. Slotting the sections together automatically connects the lights, so you never have to go looking for cables to screw together. The only time-consuming bit, as with most full-size trees, is separating and positioning the smaller branches to make the tree look as bushy as you want. The mixed-tip foliage is moderately dense, with plenty of room for ornaments, although the vertical branch at the top isn’t strong enough to hold anything heavy.
The lights have a lovely warm white glow, with eight display settings controlled easily from a button on the mains plug. You can also set it to automatically switch on for six hours every day. There’s no remote control supplied, but it’s compatible with B&Q’s Magical Christmas tree wand (£49.49), which works with most pre-lit trees to switch the lights on and off with a wave and an audible twinkle.
It’s a shame that … as with all pre-lit artificial trees, B&Q’s tree is likely to last many years longer than its lights, which are wrapped quite securely on to the branches.
Dimensions (6ft version): 183cm tall by 106cm at widest point
Branch tips: 1,262
Lights: 300 warm white LEDs
Other heights available: 7ft
Foliage material: PVC and polyethylene
B&Q
Full Fraser fir with warm white LEDs
£160
What we love
Well-lit, easy to assemble and divine to look at
What we don’t love
Top branch won’t hold a heavy ornament
Best budget Christmas tree:
Robert Dyas Alaskan pine with LEDs
Robert Dyas
Alaskan pine with LEDs
£49.99
What we love
Great value for a full-size pre-lit tree
What we don’t love
Needles aren’t very realistic, and they shed
A good-value buy isn’t just cheap but built to last. Despite costing less than £50 (or £34.99 for the unlit version), this richly coloured tree is conveniently pre-lit and robust enough to survive several years of use.
Why we love it
Budget Christmas trees used to be sorry affairs, all droopy neon plastic with bald bits. Not any more, judging by the cheapest trees in my test. The Robert Dyas isn’t quite as bushy as some, but once you fluff up its plentiful branch tips, it’s an impressively verdant pyramid. Plug in the pre-adorned lights, and it’s showy enough to need few further embellishments.
The lights are a simple affair. Each of the tree’s three sections has a string of LEDs with cable connectors, and the resulting combined string is mains-powered, so you don’t have to worry about batteries. It’s quick to put together and saves an awful lot of time and fairy-light-based hassle.
There are no display options, such as flashing or colours, but the warm white light is a cosy choice. My experience with similar lights suggests these may only last a few years, but the tree itself is sturdy enough to survive many a Christmas and not just end up in landfill.
It’s a shame that … it’s not as natural-looking as the Habitat tree below and sheds a few fake needles, although far fewer than a real tree.
Dimensions (6ft version): 180cm tall by about 90cm at widest point
Branch tips: we counted about 550
Lights: we counted about 120 LEDs
Other heights available: 4ft
Foliage material: PVC
Robert Dyas
Alaskan pine with LEDs
£49.99
What we love
Great value for a full-size pre-lit tree
What we don’t love
Needles aren’t very realistic, and they shed
Best unlit Christmas tree:
Habitat mixed-tip upswept
Habitat
Mixed-tip upswept
£120
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble, and looks gorgeous
What we don’t love
Not pre-lit, and the stand is a bit utilitarian
This beautiful tree uses a realistic silhouette and a mix of foliage styles to create a classy, textured look. It made a strong statement in the corner of our living room before we’d even added a bauble.
Why we love it
Habitat’s magnificent alpine fir lookalike was quick and easy to put together. Its three clearly marked sections slotted together easily, and the metal-hinged branches dropped effortlessly into place. This is one of several trees I tried assembling on my own, and I was pleasantly surprised by how quick and painless I found it – once unboxed, it took six minutes to get to a basic tree shape. It’s quite heavy when assembled, though, so I’d recommend building it in the spot you want it to stand for the next few weeks.
This tree can be as bushy as you choose. If you prefer your festive topiary on the dense side, you can go to town sculpting the wired branch tips until there’s little space between them. If you’d rather have plenty of room to hang decorations, leave the branches as they are and fill the gaps with dangly doodads.
As with most artificial Christmas trees, this one is “upswept”, which means the tips point upwards and can double as hooks for decorations. The branches supported ornaments well, and the top branch was strong enough to stand proud when adorned with my 150g topper.
Most of the fake foliage on this tree is your standard AstroTurf-style slivers of green plastic, but thoughtful details set it apart. Each batch of fluffy fronds has a coniferous shape with shorter blades at the end, and several of the tips are rubbery PVC in a different shade of green to create a natural look. No bits fell to the floor, even when we gave the tree a good wobble.
It’s a shame that … the gorgeously wide sweep of the lower branches means you’ll need a fairly spacious room to put it in. You’ll have loads of room for presents underneath, though.
Dimensions (6ft version tested): 183cm tall by 117.5cm at widest point
Branch tips: 1,951
Lights: none
Other heights available: 5ft, 7ft, 8ft
Foliage material: PVC
Habitat
Mixed-tip upswept
£120
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble, and looks gorgeous
What we don’t love
Not pre-lit, and the stand is a bit utilitarian
Best realistic Christmas tree:
Christmas Tree World Matterhorn pine
Christmas Tree World
Matterhorn pine
£119.99
What we love
Strong, lifelike branches that hold loads of decorations
What we don’t love
It’s heavy and its bristles are sharp
Preorder now, stock expected 6 November
The dark green foliage of this gloriously lifelike pine will have your neighbours and visitors doing a double take. Its needles feel rather realistic, too, so it’s just as well that you get a pair of protective gloves in the box.
Why we love it
When I read “PVC”, I tend to think of shiny black pleather, but the dense PVC needles of this artificial pine tree are more like wire. It makes the branches feel a bit like bottle brushes, so you wouldn’t want to sit around stroking them, but I concede that Christmas trees are made to look at rather than fondle – and this one is a serious looker.
Initial assembly was really quick, but plumping its strong branch tips to their fullest took us a while. Every one of the nearly 900 tips is adjustable and strong enough to support multiple decorations, and if you’re patient, the end result is spectacular.
At 14kg, the Matterhorn is one of the heaviest and most robust of all the trees I tested. It comes with a 10-year guarantee, but I expect it will last much longer. As Christmas Tree World says in its excellent instruction booklet, this is far from being single-use plastic. I could even see it being passed down generations. Just don’t be tempted to put it outside because the steel hinges will rust.
It’s a shame that … the foliage is darker than your average bright green fake tree. My husband adored it, but I found it a little too dark; it needed plenty of decorations to look camp enough for Christmas.
Dimensions (6ft version): 180cm tall by 110cm at widest point
Branch tips: 856
Lights: none
Other heights available: 5ft, 7ft, 8ft; plus pre-lit
Foliage material: PVC
Christmas Tree World
Matterhorn pine
£119.99
What we love
Strong, lifelike branches that hold loads of decorations
What we don’t love
It’s heavy and its bristles are sharp
Best small Christmas tree:
Atkin and Thyme Nordmann fir pre-lit potted tree
Atkin and Thyme
Nordmann fir pre-lit potted tree
£39
What we love
Looks classy; works indoors or out; no mains cable
What we don’t love
The lights get tangled, and batteries aren’t included
Another realistic pre-lit tree, this chic little three-footer ticks all the boxes except “tall”. It’s stylish, festive and lit with 50 warm white LEDs that leave plenty of room for your own decorations.
Why we love it
Pre-lit trees are generally for indoor use only, but this stylish and realistic 3ft fir can go outdoors too. Its lights are powered via a sealed battery pack designed to withstand the elements, and the greenery is a weatherproof, rubbery plastic.
Each branch is posable and quite long – this is a wide tree rather than a tall one. It comes firmly embedded in a high-quality pot, so you can pick up the whole thing by the tip without sending the pot crashing to the ground.
You don’t even have to remember to switch off the lights. Once on, they’ll stay lit for six hours before automatically switching off – and then come on again at the same start time the next day.
It’s a shame that … the light strings got tangled in the branches, so assembling this tree was more trouble than its 3ft size warranted. You also have to supply your own batteries.
Dimensions: 90cm tall by 86cm at widest point
Branch tips: 350+
Lights: 50 warm white LEDs
Other heights available: none
Foliage material: PVC and polyethylene
Atkin and Thyme
Nordmann fir pre-lit potted tree
£39
What we love
Looks classy; works indoors or out; no mains cable
What we don’t love
The lights get tangled, and batteries aren’t included
Best tabletop Christmas tree:
Homescapes artificial pinecone & berry in burlap
Homescapes
Artificial pinecone & berry in burlap
from £26.99
What we love
Ready to go out of the box, and the wrapped pot is lovely
What we don’t love
Not realistic, and not much room for baubles
Tabletop Christmas trees tend towards one of two extremes: ultra-festive straight out of the box, or so modest and realistic that you could use them as fake houseplants all year round.
Why we love it
Homescapes’ 60cm tree is very much the first of those types. The green foliage is fully decked with frosting, pine cones and faux berries to the point where there’s barely any room for your own decorations, but you could squeeze in a few if you tried. Even the pot is dressed in natural jute and string, looking much more attractive than some of the plastic stands the full-size trees come with.
It’s a shame that … the frosting sheds a little, and no one would mistake this artificial mini-tree for the real thing.
Dimensions: 60cm tall by 32cm (my measure) at widest point
Branch tips: about 120 (my measure)
Lights: none
Other heights available: none
Foliage material: plastic
Homescapes
Artificial pinecone & berry in burlap
from £26.99
What we love
Ready to go out of the box, and the wrapped pot is lovely
What we don’t love
Not realistic, and not much room for baubles
The best of the rest
The White Company pre-lit grand spruce
The White Company
Pre-lit grand spruce
£375
What we love
Stunningly stylish and realistic
What we don’t love
Expensive, and some may prefer warmer white lights
Best for: low-effort festive luxury
There’s artificial fir and pine aplenty in this guide, but now it’s the turn of the third big festive tree type: spruce. (Fine Gardening has a handy guide to the difference between them.) This gorgeous tree is one of the most realistic I tested, and I also found it to be one of the easiest to put together. The hinged branches fell into place and their tips felt flexible but strong, staying where we’d put them despite being loaded with gaudy cat toys as well as baubles. If you prefer a more minimalist look, the tree looks great with lights only, no other adornments.
The 390 white LED lights are distributed generously and evenly, although their white tone is a little on the cool side compared with the warmer, cosier shade of the other pre-loaded lights I tested. The lights’ eight display settings (flickering, slowly glowing and so on) are easy to cycle through using a button on the mains plug, which has a conveniently long cable.
It didn’t make the final cut because … £375 for a standard six-footer is a lot to pay for a fake Christmas tree, even one as beautiful as this.
Dimensions: 182cm tall by 135cm at widest point; branch tips: 1,559; lights: 390 LEDs; other heights available: 7.5ft; foliage material: “man-made materials”
The White Company
Pre-lit grand spruce
£375
What we love
Stunningly stylish and realistic
What we don’t love
Expensive, and some may prefer warmer white lights
Premier Decorations Aspen fir
Premier Decorations
Aspen fir
£112
What we love
Beautiful, rich green shade and super easy to assemble
What we don’t love
Foliage is too thick to accommodate many decorations
Best for: a really lush, verdant tree to adorn with your own lights
This unlit tree is not quite as realistic or stylish as the Habitat one above, but it costs less – and, despite having fewer branch tips (1,029 to the Habitat’s 1,951), looks and feels much bushier. If you want your Christmas tree to be more tree than bauble, this would be a fine choice.
The foliage is a beautifully deep, rich green, and the branches are hinged, so it doesn’t take much time or effort to get this tree up. It took me a fair while, though (20 minutes), to fluff it up by separating all the little branches, and there was less room than usual for large ornaments or dangly decorations in between the lush fake needles. If you wanted more freedom to festoon it with adornments, just separate fewer branches.
It didn’t make the final cut because … standing next to the B&Q, Habitat and White Company trees, this one lacked fullness in its middle section and looked a little too triangular – more like a Christmas tree emoji than a real tree.
Dimensions (6ft version): 180cm tall by 127cm at widest point; branch tips: 1,029; lights: none; other heights available: 5ft, 7ft, 8ft; foliage material: PVC
Premier Decorations
Aspen fir
£112
What we love
Beautiful, rich green shade and super easy to assemble
What we don’t love
Foliage is too thick to accommodate many decorations
Dunelm pre-lit potted porch trees
Dunelm
Pre-lit potted porch trees
£69
What we love
Really easy to move around, indoors or out
What we don’t love
The trunks are a little thick for chic
Best for: Christmassing up the front of your house without looking tacky
Dunelm’s battery-operated pre-lit potted trees work safely outdoors and indoors. They come as a pair and are designed to frame your front door, but you could just as easily use them in your garden or – if you really want to max out your festive space – as part of a multi-tree indoor display.
The foliage is quite sparse, but this gives them a realistic look, and the rubbery needles are soft and natural-looking, in a subtle forest green. The lights are evenly distributed and look lovely, but you have to supply your own AA batteries. The battery packs are weatherproof despite using an easy click-shut mechanism rather than the more fiddly screw type, and the lightweight pots have a matt-white painted finish.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the trunks look as if they belong on palm trees rather than Christmas trees, because they’re thick right to the top. Extending the top branch and switching the lights on helps to hide them.
Dimensions: 101.7cm (tree), 122cm (tree and pot) tall by 28.58cm at widest point; branch tips: about 500 per tree (my measure); lights: about 200 LEDs per tree (my measure); other heights available: none; foliage material: plastic
Dunelm
Pre-lit potted porch trees
£69
What we love
Really easy to move around, indoors or out
What we don’t love
The trunks are a little thick for chic
Dunelm snowy blue spruce
Dunelm
Snowy blue spruce
£99
What we love
Wonderfully thick branches and frosting
What we don’t love
Snow is a microplastics nightmare and gets all over the floor
Best for: an indoor white Christmas
This tree is not just lightly dusted with fake snow: it’s drenched in the stuff, like you’ve dipped it in glue then rolled it down an Alp. That makes its branches much thicker, and we found it hard to hang many baubles without it looking overdone, but at least that means it doesn’t need much work. String it with fairy lights or even just a topper, and it’s good to go.
Underneath the frosting is a decent mid-range tree with a mix of tip types, not unlike the Habitat. We found it easy to assemble, and its metal stand is unusually sturdy. The best snowy tree I tested.
It didn’t make the final cut because … fake snow doesn’t exactly enhance a tree’s sustainability credentials. Flocking can shed plastic particles, potentially contributing to microplastic pollution. It’s also an enthusiastic shedder, littering the floor in what looks like the dandruff of a giant.
Dimensions (6ft version): 180cm tall by 106cm at widest point; branch tips: we counted about 700; lights: none; other heights available: 7ft; foliage material: plastic
Dunelm
Snowy blue spruce
£99
What we love
Wonderfully thick branches and frosting
What we don’t love
Snow is a microplastics nightmare and gets all over the floor
Robert Dyas Westbury multicolour fibre optic
Robert Dyas
Westbury multicolour fibre optic
£39.99
What we love
Easy to assemble and loads of colourful fun
What we don’t love
Feels cheap, may not last many years
Best for: anyone for whom “too much” is never enough at Christmas
The Westbury (or Woodbury, on the box) is one of the smallest trees I tested, but has the biggest kitsch appeal by far. After minimal adjustment of the fluffy branches, we plugged the tree into the mains, and it threw out so much light and colour that we squealed like excited children.
The tree was a breeze to assemble, without a cable to get in the way, because the fairy lights and fibre-optic filaments are firmly embedded in the branch tips. Its handy remote control is ready to go out of the box, so we immediately set about changing colours, playing with effects and testing the timer.
It didn’t make the final cut because … every time I went to move the tree it detached from the pot, which got annoying. Pick up the pot, rather than the tip of the tree, and you’ll be fine.
Dimensions: 90cm tall by 20cm at widest point; branch tips: we counted about 250; lights: 80 fibre-optic tips and about 80 LEDs; other heights available: none; foliage material: plastic
Robert Dyas
Westbury multicolour fibre optic
£39.99
What we love
Easy to assemble and loads of colourful fun
What we don’t love
Feels cheap, may not last many years
Christmas Tree World pre-lit ultra pop up
Christmas Tree World
Pre-lit ultra pop up
£149.99
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble
What we don’t love
Not particularly realistic, if that’s what you want
Best for: going from zero to fully lit tree in seconds before guests arrive
This one’s quicker to prepare than eggnog. Open the box and lift out the tree – like a big green crinoline skirt with branches and fairy lights attached – then prop it on to its central pole, switch on the lights, et voilà: your tree.
It’s an absolute cracker, too. There’s plenty of room for decorations, but the mix of green shades gives the bendable tips a dense, textured look that means you can get away with a minimal scattering of baubles.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s expensive for what you get, and the uniformly triangular shape of the tree means no one would mistake it for the real thing.
Dimensions (6ft version): 180cm tall by 60cm at widest point; branch tips: 686; lights: 200 warm white LEDs; other heights available: 7ft; foliage material: PVC and polyethylene
Christmas Tree World
Pre-lit ultra pop up
£149.99
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble
What we don’t love
Not particularly realistic, if that’s what you want
Robert Dyas Duchess slim pre-lit
Robert Dyas
Duchess slim pre-lit
£49.99
What we love
Bushy branches and a good number of lights
What we don’t love
Not much room for decorations
Best for: anyone short on time and space
I expected this tree to be little more than a slimmed-down version of the Robert Dyas Alaskan pine. It’s much bushier, though, and its lights feel more securely attached, giving it a more durable feel.
The branches are thickly adorned with deep green plastic foliage, giving a denser look than most other trees I tested – even before you’ve spent time adjusting all the tips. At 75cm wide, it’s big enough to look impressive but small enough to suit smaller living spaces.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the thick foliage looks great, but it doesn’t leave much room for decorations.
Dimensions (5ft version): 150cm tall by 75cm at widest point; branch tips: 327; lights: 150; other heights available: none; foliage material: plastic
Robert Dyas
Duchess slim pre-lit
£49.99
What we love
Bushy branches and a good number of lights
What we don’t love
Not much room for decorations
Christmas Tree World ultra-lit Montagna fir
Christmas Tree World
Ultra-lit Montagna fir
£449.99
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble but powerfully impressive
What we don’t love
Expensive, and possibly too many lights for an indoor tree
Best for: voluminous razzle dazzle with very little work
If you’re going to charge this much more for a pre-lit Christmas tree, you’d better light it more attractively than I could with a string of fairy lights. Christmas Tree World has risen to that challenge and absolutely devoured it with this extravagantly illuminated beast of a tree.
There’s not half as much work to do as you may think for a tree this size. It’s heavy but easy to put together, not least because its sections slot together smoothly and automatically connect the lights at the same time, so you don’t have to connect any cables. The tree is nicely balanced, with a lot of width at the bottom to keep it from toppling, and the branches are on hinges so they fall into place. The tips are a nice mix of textures and shades, and there are absolutely tons of lights, slightly more generously scattered at the top of the tree.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it all looks “a bit much”, in the words of my visiting sister. That’s a matter of taste, but I do see what she means: the thick foliage, tall height and densely packed lights are overpowering unless you have a large living space.
Dimensions (7ft version): 210cm tall by 135cm at widest point; branch tips: 3,467; lights: 3,000 warm white micro LEDs; other heights available: 8ft; foliage material: PVC and polyethylene
Christmas Tree World
Ultra-lit Montagna fir
£449.99
What we love
Quick and easy to assemble but powerfully impressive
What we don’t love
Expensive, and possibly too many lights for an indoor tree
OHS Autumn-Christmas burgundy tree
OHS
Autumn-Christmas burgundy tree
£21
What we love
A cool splash of colour at a great price
What we don’t love
One size only, and it’s narrower than premium six-footers
Best for: a quirky colour scheme in a small space
If you, like me, are thoroughly fed up with the greige-ing of modern life, break a few colour rules with this deep magenta tree. It’s much less bushy and decorative than it looks in OHS’s online photos (it doesn’t come adorned with giant pink bows, for starters), and, purpleness aside, it’s a very conventional fake Christmas tree with flat PVC needles. I also found it to shed a little more than the pricier trees in this rundown, and the branches aren’t strong enough to support heavy decorations.
Having said that, it’s a lovely sight once assembled. I found it quick to put together, easy to move around on its lightweight but strong plastic stand, and nicely balanced with plenty of room for decorations and lights. It’s not particularly wide at the bottom, so it doesn’t have that luxurious sweep of a wider tree, but it would fit comfortably in a smaller living space.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the colour is a little left field, and whether it looks good or not in your home depends on how the space is already decorated. Purple works wonderfully next to yellow walls, but less so next to beige.
Dimensions: 182cm tall by 100cm (my measure) at widest point; branch tips: 500; lights: none; other heights available: none; foliage material: PVC
OHS
Autumn-Christmas burgundy tree
£21
What we love
A cool splash of colour at a great price
What we don’t love
One size only, and it’s narrower than premium six-footers
Christmas Tree World black Italian pencilimo
Christmas Tree World
Black Italian pencilimo
£49.99
What we love
A great space-saver and conversation starter
What we don’t love
Dense branches don’t leave much room for decorations
Best for: an unconventional festive look
If Coco Chanel were alive today, and assuming she could be persuaded to buy a plastic Christmas tree, this would be the one she’d go for – and woe betide you if you try to add a bauble or fairy light. After all, in her words: “black has it all”.
Given that you are not, in fact, Coco Chanel, I’d recommend jazzing up the black a little. This slim, easy-to-assemble tree is a wonderful blank canvas for hundreds of colourful fairy lights and a large, stylish topper, or you could stick with white lights for a cool monochrome look.
It didn’t make the final cut because … its tightly packed branches don’t leave much room for dangly decorations.
Dimensions (6ft version tested): 180cm tall by 58cm at widest point; branch tips: 555; lights: none; other heights available: 4ft, 5ft, 7ft, 8ft plus pre-lit in all heights; foliage material: PVC
Christmas Tree World
Black Italian pencilimo
£49.99
What we love
A great space-saver and conversation starter
What we don’t love
Dense branches don’t leave much room for decorations
Dunelm pre-lit tinsel tree
Dunelm
Pre-lit tinsel tree
£18
What we love
Needs no decorating whatsoever
What we don’t love
Not the most sustainable, and the branches aren’t strong
Best for: a minimalist Christmas, or just one part of a mad maximalist Yule
Dunelm’s tinsel tree is surprisingly versatile and likable. A tree made entirely from “rose gold” tinsel (more silver to my eye) may sound like the apex of kitsch, but it would be the ideal nod to Christmas if you love a cool, bare-home aesthetic. Even the cable connecting the LEDs to the mains has a clear plastic coating, making it almost invisible – and it’s a decent length, too.
This tree would also be right at home in an over-the-top Christmas grotto, though. I mean, it’s three feet of fairy lights and tinsel. When listening back to my voice notes, I chuckled at the moment Alan and I switched on the lights and both exclaimed a delighted, “Ooh!” at the glittery cosiness of it all. “It’s actually making me feel Christmassy,” said Alan on a rainy October Sunday.
The tinsel feels softer and of better quality than I’d expected, with different shades and types of tinsel to give the whole thing a textured look and feel. The lights are well distributed and ready to go, with no connector, and I didn’t notice any shedding. “It sounds like a contradiction in terms,” said Alan, “but this is quite classy tinsel.”
It didn’t make the final cut because … the plastic stand slots together easily and feels sturdy, but I struggled to disassemble it, so I couldn’t fit it back into its box. It’s also worth knowing that the materials used to make tinsel trees tend to be less durable than conventional PVC and PE trees, and can shed microplastics.
Dimensions: 86.4cm tall by 12.7cm at widest point; branch tips: about 250 (my measure); lights: about 100 (my measure); other heights available: none; foliage material: plastic
Dunelm
Pre-lit tinsel tree
£18
What we love
Needs no decorating whatsoever
What we don’t love
Not the most sustainable, and the branches aren’t strong
Dunelm artificial tree in rattan plant pot
Dunelm
Artificial tree in rattan plant pot
£18
What we love
Realistic and generic enough to display all year
What we don’t love
Not particularly festive until you decorate it
Best for: displaying all year round
The realistically sparse foliage on this mini fir tree feels lovely and soft, and the flexible branches are easy to position – it’s just a shame there aren’t more of them. It’s hardly the most festive-looking tree I tested, either. But that’s actually something to like about it. You could display this houseplant-sized tree in its lovely woven basket all year, then dress it up in Christmassy whatnots when December rolls around.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s a little uneven, with a mad thicket of branches at the bottom but hardly any at the top.
Dimensions: 70cm tall by 32cm at widest point; branch tips: about 150 (my measure); lights: none; other heights available: none; foliage material: plastic
Dunelm
Artificial tree in rattan plant pot
£18
What we love
Realistic and generic enough to display all year
What we don’t love
Not particularly festive until you decorate it
What you need to know
Can an artificial Christmas tree really be more sustainable than a real one?
You mean, is a 7ft pyramid of plastic more environmentally friendly than an actual tree? Obviously not. Even if you retire a real tree by setting fire to it – a process not exactly short on pollutants and greenhouse gases – it’s still a greener choice in the short term. “An artificial tree has 10 times the carbon footprint of a natural tree that’s burned after Christmas,” said Alex Robinson, then CEO of UK environmental charity Hubbub.
An artificial tree is not just for one Christmas, however. “As long as an artificial tree is reused for 10 years or more, its environmental impact will balance out,” said Robinson. This backs up the Carbon Trust’s finding that a fake tree used for seven to 20 years, depending on its weight and materials, produces fewer emissions than buying a new, commercially grown tree each year.
Real and fake trees have their environmental pros and cons, says Tristan Sissons, head of purchasing at Hillier Nurseries. “Real trees are biodegradable, and they’re grown for years before they’re sold, absorbing carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. But artificial trees can be used for years, so they avoid the ‘one use and dispose of’ mentality.”
The best artificial Christmas trees are investment pieces that cut landfill – you would hope. “Sadly, it’s estimated that artificial Christmas trees are used on average only four times, so it’s important to buy one that gets used year after year,” said Robinson.
You don’t have to wheel out the same tree for 55 years like my family, but a decade or more is easily achieved if you choose wisely. Unless I’ve stated otherwise, all the trees I mention above seem robust enough to last 10 years or more, and a few – notably the Christmas Tree World Matterhorn pine, which comes with a 10-year guarantee – are so well built that they probably have a longer life expectancy than I do.
How else can I minimise my tree’s carbon impact?
Flocked trees are trending, according to retailers including Christmas Tree World and Wayfair, but the fake snow they’re covered in makes your tree less green in more ways than one. A flocked tree can still have a smaller carbon footprint than an annual series of real trees, though, if you use it every year for long enough. According to the energy supplier 100Green, artificial flocking increases the carbon break-even time for an artificial tree to 15 years, and if you spray it on a real tree, it’ll render the tree non-recyclable. It also makes a mess on the floor, albeit more manageable than real tree needles.
Pre-lit trees have their green drawbacks, too. LED strings are unlikely to have as long a lifespan as a fake tree, and they’re often attached so securely to pre-lit trees that they can be a hassle to replace.
The most frustrating environmental aspect of artificial Christmas trees, though, is where they’re made: China, almost without exception. Not a single tree I was able to source was made in the UK, including those whose brands put a homegrown vibe at the centre of their appeal, such as the Atkin and Thyme Nordmann fir. I’m now redoubling efforts to find UK-made trees to add to this roundup.
Starting your Christmas shopping? Check out the Filter’s Christmas gift ideas and the best beauty Advent calendars
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Jane Hoskyn is a features journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades of experience in rearranging bookshelves and “testing” coffee machines while deadlines loom. Her work has made her a low-key expert in all manner of consumables, from sports watches to solar panels. She would always rather be in the woods, but at least this article let her bring the woods into her home
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